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Correction: Uruguay-Marijuana story

The Associated Press

Updated:
01/09/2014 06:04:43 PM EST

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay—Relying on information in a local newspaper, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the Canadian government was negotiating with Uruguay to import marijuana for medicinal purposes. Sean Upton, a spokesman for Health Canada, the federal department responsible for the country's regulations on medicinal marijuana, says there are currently no plans to encourage the import of cannabis from Uruguay or any other country and no negotiations on the matter have taken place between the governments of Canada and Uruguay.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Medicinal marijuana labs eye Uruguay after law

Medicinal marijuana labs want to set roots in Uruguay after passage of new law

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP)—Foreign firms want to open laboratories in Uruguay to study the potential uses of medicinal marijuana now that the weed has been legalized in the South American country.

Uruguay's Congress recently approved creation of the world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana. The government will oversee production, sales and consumption of the drug.

Presidential Spokesman Diego Canepa said Monday that foreign labs have told the government they'd like to set up there. Canepa is quoted by the local daily El Observador as saying that "Uruguay will become a hub for biotechnology."

Uruguay's law doesn't consider the possibility of exporting pot, although it could be included after a government commission rules in April.